DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Umeda et al. (2017/0165750).
Umeda et al. discloses a powder supply apparatus 1 to a molding hole of a die, comprising:
a storage member 51 including a storage chamber 511, 512, 513 configured to store powder 8;
a discharging member 3 disposed below the storage member 51 and including a discharge port 32 to discharge the powder 8;
a feeding member 52 disposed below the storage member and above the discharging member, configured to feed powder in the storage chamber 51 to the discharge port 32, and including a plurality of feeding chambers 31, 51, 52 inside the feeding member 1 such that the plurality of feeding chambers are stacked in an up-down direction, the plurality of feeding chambers having capacities different from one another – see Fig. 1, 31, 51, 52;
an inlet shutter 6A configured to open and close 601, 602 an inlet opening for feeding the powder in the storage chamber to the feeding member;
an outlet shutter 4A, 4B configured to open and close 401, 402 an outlet opening for feeding powder in the feeding member to the discharge port 32; and
an intermediate shutter 6B configured to open and close 601, 602 an intermediate opening that makes one feeding chamber and another feeding chamber communicate with each other, the one feeding chamber and the other feeding chamber being included in the plurality of feeding chambers 31, 51, 52and being adjacent to each other – see Fig. 1.
Regarding claims 2-3, wherein the apparatus further comprises a controller for controlling the shutters 4A-B, 6A-B, [0065]-[0073].
Regarding claims 4-6, wherein each of the chambers 31, 51, 52 have different capacity and are all connected to each other, and the shutters 4A-b, 6A-B are independently opened and closed in different arrangements to form different feeding chambers with different capacities [0075].
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Umeda et al. (2017/0165750) as applied to claims 1-6 above, and further in view of Huang et al. (2023/0057714).
Umeda et al. fails to disclose that the feeding apparatus is used in an additive manufacturing apparatus.
Huang et al. discloses a powder feeding apparatus comprising a body 1, a charging part 2, a feeding part 3 for feeding powder into a surface of a substrate 4 for forming an additive layer 5 on the substrate 4.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide Umeda et al’s feeding device in an additive manufacturing apparatus of Huang et al. in order to improve the feeding of powder material in an additive manufacturing process.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Thu-Khanh T. Nguyen whose telephone number is (571)272-1136. The examiner can normally be reached 7:30-4:30.
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/Thu Khanh T. Nguyen/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1743
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